Bullets and artillery shells once made the Ch’orwon Valley
a bloody no-man’s land. Today along the dividing line between
North and South Korea, the only things whistling through
the air have feathers: A lush wildlife preserve has grown
up inside the world’s most heavily fortified border—now
home to a number of endangered species.

But in a doubly ironic twist of fate, that little stretch
of Eden is threatened by the possibility of peace.

With the warring sides seriously considering throwing down
their arms, business interests in the South are salivating
over the prospect of gaining access to Korea’s DMZ—the 2.5-mile-wide
(4-kilometer), 155-mile-long (250-kilometer) demilitarized
zone that stretches from one side of the peninsula to the
other. Proposals already on the table for exploiting this
potentially valuable real estate include industrial parks,
housing developments, and even a Disneyland-type amusement
center.

“The South Koreans don’t see anything but profit-making
business ventures,” says Pennsylvania State University entomologist
Ke Chung Kim, a native of Korea who is leading an international
effort to preserve the DMZ as a green “Peace Park” after
the two sides have settled their differences.

“The degradation is already going on,” says Kim, pointing
to commercial inroads that have been made in a 3-to-12-mile-wide
(5-20 km) civilian-controlled buffer zone running along
the southern perimeter of the DMZ. “The current [South Korean]
administration has been extremely lenient in waiving pollution
controls and opening up those areas.”

The demilitarized zone is one of the few places remaining
anywhere on the Korean peninsula that hasn’t been taken
over by humans—to the detriment of the environment. If a
peace agreement is signed, there will no longer be any need
for people to keep their hands off this green ribbon of
earth.

BEARS AND CRANES...AND TIGERS?

“On a peninsula that’s suffered incredible environmental
decay, you have an area that’s gone untouched for 45 years
now,” says Carroll Muffett, international counsel for Defenders
of Wildlife. “One area of particular interest for us is
the Asiatic black bear, which is critically endangered wherever
it occurs in Asia.”

Heavily exploited in traditional medicine markets and for
such products as bear paw soup, black bears have largely
disappeared in South Korea, according to Muffett. “The DMZ
may be one of the few areas remaining where any significant
populations are left.”

Residents of the DMZ and its civilian-controlled buffer
zone also include two of the world’s most endangered birds,
which use the strip as wintering grounds: the white-naped
and red-crowned cranes. Other endangered fliers that make
their homes among the landmines seeded throughout the zone
are the Chinese egret, black-faced spoonbill, swan goose,
and spotted greenshank.

More than 51 species of mammals have been documented scientifically,
including rare and endangered animals thought to have been
wiped out elsewhere in Korea. Some scientists even believe
they have found traces of leopard and a Korean subspecies
of the Siberian tiger. Occasionally an animal—especially
the abundant mule deer—trips a landmine and is destroyed.
But in an area where humans rarely dare to go, those with
paws and fur are largely left to themselves.

Elsewhere in the South, by contrast, rapid economic and
urban development has led to extensive environmental degradation,
with accompanying air and water pollution. Many plant and
animal species have been exterminated or are in collapse.
On both sides of the border, hillsides have been stripped
of vegetation, causing erosion and floods.

DMZ Forum, an advocacy group headed by Kim, estimates that
more than 20 percent of South Korea’s terrestrial vertebrates—including
48 percent of reptiles and 60 percent of amphibians—have
been destroyed or are under severe threat. The group predicts
that with the human population continuing to soar, further
development will intensify environmental damage.

NORTH KOREANS INTERESTED

Conservation advocates point to other areas of the world
where once-fortified military borders have become wildlife
preserves, including a large strip along the border between
China and Russia. But few such places are under the kind
of commercial pressures as any available land in the economic
juggernaut that South Korea has become. And with the country
still in shock from its recent brief but intense recession,
Kim reckons that the state of the environment ranks near
the bottom of popular concerns.

Whereas the previous administration of South Korean President
Kim Young-sam had adopted preservation of the DMZ as official
government policy, Kim says, “The new administration [of
President Kim Dae-jung] hasn’t made any statements on the
environment. It’s completely missing from the government’s
agenda and even vision. As a result, land use and other
environmental situations are in real turmoil at this point.”

However, Peace Park advocates believe they have seen positive
signs of interest from the North Korean government of Kim
Jong Il—although until recently, interpreting the thoughts
of the reclusive Communist leader has been an art akin to
reading tea leaves. Last fall, the director-general of North
Korea’s Nature Conservation Union in Pyongyang, in a radio
statement broadcast by the government’s official news agency,
cited preservation of the DMZ as a worthy goal.

Nine years ago the two governments formally agreed that
the DMZ ultimately should be used for “peaceful purposes.”
Kim and other nature advocates hope that now, as fortifications
along the last border of the Cold War appear about to come
down, the two sides will go the further step of agreeing
to keep it green.

Eye in the Sky is a weekly series that brings you the story behind the headlines using satellite imagery, remote sensing, aerial photography, and maps. This feature is developed by National Geographic News with the sponsorship of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and Earth-Info. Check out maps and imagery at http://www.earth-info.org.

 Korea’s DMZ, established by the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in Korea, is a 2.5-mile-wide (4-km), 155-mile-long (250-km) strip across the peninsula. Due to the lack of human activity inside the zone, it has become a refuge for plants and animals—-including some of the world’s most endangered.
 The two-legged animals on either side of the line have not been so peaceful. More than 1,000 South Koreans, 50 Americans and many North Koreans have died in skirmishes over the years along the world’s most heavily fortified border.
 A half-million South Koreans, backed up by 36,000 Americans and some of the world’s most advanced military hardware, guard the southern perimeter. An estimated one million troops are massed along the northern side.
 Straddling the border, the village of Panmunjom—-destroyed by tank fire during the war—-now serves as the site of truce talks. Two U.S. soldiers were axed to death there by North Koreans in a 1976 dispute over tree pruning. In 1992 a gun battle resulted in the deaths of three North Koreans and wounding of two South Koreans.

More Information

Isolated since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, economically hard-pressed North Korea during the last four months has been vigorously reaching out to other nations. An opening of one of the world’s last communist societies would end more than a half-century of hostility. Key dates:

1945: After the defeat of Japan, Soviet and U.S. forces divide the Korean peninsula along the 38th parallel and later establish regimes sympathetic to their interests.

June 25, 1950: The Communist North a launches surprise attack against the South.

July 1953: After an armistice, the old frontier is restored and a demilitarized zone established separating the warring sides. However, a peace treaty is never concluded.

December 1991: Prime ministers of the North and South sign a declaration of non-aggression and pledge not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs. But these and other agreements languish as mutual distrust continues.

July 1994: North Korean head of state Kim Il-sung dies and is succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il.

October 1994: North Korea and the U.S. agree to restrict nuclear power to peaceful uses. However, continuing evidence of nuclear activity interferes with continuing negotiations.

June 1999: South Korea clashes with North Korean torpedo boats trespassing in South Korean waters in the Yellow Sea.

March 2000: North Korea launches diplomatic initiative, establishing relations with Italy, resuming diplomatic discussions with Japan and Australia for the first time in years, and sending out feelers to other Western nations.

April 10, 2000: Following the first talks in seven years on normalizing relations, in a surprise announcement, the two Koreas agree to a historic summit in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

June 12-14, 2000: In his first meeting with a foreign head of state since taking office, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il confers cordially with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

June 19, 2000: U.S. government moves to lift a half-century of trade restrictions on North Korea. Coca-Cola subsequently announces plans to set up shop in Pyongyang.